Even though Odisha has earned praise from national and global communities for its persistent efforts in the battle against the coronavirus, not a single hospital in the State could get approval for conducting second phase of plasma therapy trials on critically ill Covid-19 patients.
As the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has begun clinical trials for convalescent plasma therapy to assess its effectiveness in treatment of Covid-19, the Centre has shortlisted a total of 21 hospitals in 10 States excluding Odisha to initiate the therapy.
Recently, the ICMR has received approval for clinical trial titled ‘PLACID – Phase-II Open-Label Randomised Controlled Trial’ from the Covid-19 National Ethics Committee to assess the safety and efficacy of convalescent plasma to limit Covid-19 related complications.
However, no hospital in Odisha has been included in the list of facilities approved for conducting plasma therapy.
Among the hospitals, while five are in Maharashtra alone, 16 hospitals have been selected from Gujarat (4), Rajasthan (2), Punjab (1), Tamil Nadu (2), Madhya Pradesh (2), Uttar Pradesh (2), Karnataka (1), Telangana (1) and Chandigarh (1).
The convalescent plasma therapy aims at using antibodies from the blood of a recovered Covid-19 patient to treat other critical patients infected with the deadly virus.